A Peak over the Surface
by Holly of the Night
Summary: A peak in the world of pokemon not known by trainers often, but by a regular scientist working on the field, and his opinion about how Pokemon Trainers affect the environment.


Drummer ruffled his hair. He frowned slightly. He could have sworn he had only been here for a few hours. But a quick glance at the small numbers on the bottom right in his computer screen told him otherwise. He had been over-working again.

Oh well, better than a boring day, he sighed thoughtfully.

He was in a room of sorts. It was supposed to be an office. Three tables squeezed into the small room, one on each corner against the wall, the last wall reserved, as it held the only door in and out of this place. The twenty something year old sat furthest away from the door, in a stiff but comfy chair.

The brown-haired field biologist pore through a long list of newly aquired data sent to him by other field pokemon scientsts a few minutes ago via satellite transport. Their findings revealed the private fears they all held.

Biotic pollution.

Pokemon trainers travled and captured pokemon. It was almost a way of life. It would almost be laughable to the comunity, if pokemon trainers didn't travel around the world, collecting and raising pokemon they come across.

However, every now and then, a pokemon trainer may go through the phase of releasing ther pokemon. Maybe they grew bored with their pokemon. Or they got it off a bad trade. It was not working for them anymore. or, Drummer's least favorite, breeding the species to find that special type of pokemon that caught a Trainer's eye.

Whatever the reason, Trainers thought it okay to simply release the pokemon they did not want anymore back into the Wild. They thought it would help everyone if they just released the pokemon before talking with the Pokemon Center, filing a form about your pokemon, why you want to get rid of it and filing out all the details about said pokemon, and finally handing the pokeball over to the Nurse Joy of a pokemon center, where every week Rescue Pokemon Squads oame to retrieve the pokeballs and release them into their own respective Wild.

The forms may be frusterating, but it's done for a reason.

It was to prevent Trainers from thoughtlessly releasing pokemonin in an unsafe environment,not suitable for their species. Last week, Drummer and his team found shivering Torkoal that nearly died in Mt. Corone. Water Pokemon that were dehydrated in Stark Mountain's harsh heat waves. An abandoned Butterfree left alone in Soot Mountain, covered in soot. The ashes weighed down on the poor pokemon's wings, they were too heavy for the Butterfree to move that it starved to death.

Time and again trainers released pokemon they either did not want, or to keep the next pokemon they captured in their pack, and not transferred to the pokemon center.

Once in a rare day, a trainer would release a very powerful pokemon they had no interest in anymore. Release a pokemon like that in a wild that contained weak pokemon in an area such as Rouge 219, and field biologists tended to find a steep decline in pokemon numbers around that particular area. Usually from the foreign one killing the pokemon and eating them and making the area their territory. This would mean the very pokemon banished fom their own territories would ran away to appear in other conditions that were not meant for them, to soon die out or live on.

It posed an even greater problem for new trainers, who would never expect to see such powerful pokemon in certain routes until they at least had their seventh badge. Not their first. That also exhausted Pokemon Rescue Squads who had to take time away from saving pokemon to save the Trainers. Especially a blumbering one who tailed after an Arcanine with a Zigzagoon.

Drummer paused, his pen poised over his already scribbled notes. A pokemon teleported here, in this very room. He knew because the pokemon let off a psychic alarm in his head. Drummer leaned back his chair and hollered as loud as he could.

"Isis!"

A squeal, followed by a crash. Drummur looked over his shoulder. A lanky yellow pokemon with a narrow head and two long protrusions shaped like a v behind its head appeared in the doorway. It had brown sections like pads over its forearms and knees. It stook upright on two feet, with three toes on each foot and an extremely long mustache.

The Alakazam jumped when Drummer had called, bumping into the cabinet behind her.

_Drummer!_ Isis panted, although her lips didn't move. Psychic communication. She fidged with her mustache with one long-fingered hand while adjusting the red scarf over her neck with the other. _Don't scare me like that! _

Drummer tapped his skull with a finger. "You told me you were coming," he reminded her. "Did you get the video feed from James?"

_I wouldn't be here if I didn't_. The Alakazam held up a small blue chip in her right hand victoriously. _What do you think?_

Drummer's eyes widened. "It even has the ...?"

_Yup._

"Great, this'll work!" Drummer felt hopeful as he injected the chip into his comp and watched the little bar quickly fill to indicate that it was downloading the contents.

Isis used to be an Kadabra when Drummer first met her. She used to belong to another field Scientist by the name of Jessica Copes. The Kadabera used to be meek; she spoke very little to Jessica's workers. But she became fast friends with everyone in the office, and even got her own job assisting her trainer; in search of pokemon that did not belong in foreign territory and taking them back to where they belonged; a bit like the Pokemon Rescue Squad, except this demanded less battling and more scavenging the weak and defenseless pokemon.

It was not long until Isis eventually evolved into an Alakazam. Her intelligence and photographic memory were a gem to the field scientists, for her ability to locate pokemon, her psychic links to communicate with them from long distances, her psychic abilities to combat and restrain pokemon too powerful for them to handle, and her teleport ability to allow her to take the team from one region to another in an instant. Despite these abilities, they often treated her more like human than a pokemon.

However, when Jessica retired from field duties, Isis was mortified. She loved her job here and the people who supported her. There was a long talk between Jessica, Isis, and a few people at the office here, Drummer included, about what they were going to do about it.

They all came to an agreement and Jessica released her Alakazam, in the hopes that Isis could continue to study here and become a field biologist.

Easier said than done, Drummer reflected.

Everyone at the Office had to confront the Pokemon League HQ. Like it or not, Isis was still a pokemon, and as such the Pokemon League HQ did not see the pokemon as a means to be given pay wages, or to be treated with the same luxaries and benefits like the rest of the workers.

Drummer and everyone at the Office fought back, however, for Isis's sake, until the Elite Four finally gave in. Isis was given her special ID card that marked her as a worker in the Pokemon-Environmental Services and Citizenship, and got her own place living as a roomie with one of the workers, to feel more at home.

She was so happy that Drummer could literally see tears in her eyes as everyone congragulated her.

Six months later, and Isis was a full-paid Field Scientist working for the Pokemon-Environmental Services. She even came to work with a red scarf woven around her neck, to look more presentable in front of her peers, although Drummer thought it wasn't required.

Drummer felt something trail on his head. It was one of Isis's mustaches. She looked over his shoulder, a small frown on his narrow lips. _What's so special about this chip though? It's no different than the others._

"We rarely get to see how Coal restrains and captures the pokemon he's assigned to find," Drummer explained. Coal was captain of the Pokemon Rescue Squad. And as such, he was the most powerful. Drummer lightly tapped his fingers on the hardwood desk, brushing off one of isis's mustache's impatiently away from his face. "They like to work in secret. But I've never seen a how Coal battles yet."

_You're willing to spend your break time watching this?_

"Uh, huh."

Isis rolled her eyes, but didn't answer.

There was something about working with a pokemon so long, that you never stop to think that they're just, well, Pokemon. That was one of the things that really shocked everyone here, when they had first learned that Isis wasn't allowed payment because of her species. Drummer and everyone at the office treated Isis like they would each other. It was not as if they did not treat pokemon fairly. But Drummer never talked to a Machoke about the economy, or relied on them very much for anything except what they're meant to do. Half the time Drummer still found it hard to believe Isis was a pokemon.

Except for the Great Ball.

After the clip was done and Drummer got his fair share of action for the day, the brown-haired Analytist stood and stretched his arms. "Coffee?"

_Yes, please. _Isis rubbed tired eyes with her _knuckles. I've been working nonstop since this morning._

"You should have brought lunch with you before you teleported out of here," Drummer called as he set the pot on the coffee maker and turned on the button. Everyone always had a sprinkle of decaf and water available ahead of time, that way if anyone was in the mood for some rich caffine they just had to press a button. They gossiped about the short video feed they just saw while the coffee brewed.

Drumer happened to glance on the other side of the room. At the safe. That held the Great Ball. Isis's Great ball, to be precise.

As long as the device was in safe condition away from greedy hands, they all breathed easier knowing Isis was unable to be re-captured by another trainer. Just as well too.

More than once, trainers had tried to capture Isis out in the open, as the Alakazam simply minded her own business one too many times, only to find the pokeballs, ultra balls, once even a Master Ball, simply bounce off her as if broken. So long as isis was still marked by the Great Ball, no other type of Pokeball would be effective against her.

Except the banned product Dark Ball.

And ff a Trainer sent a pokemon out to battle her, Isis's teleport usually worked. If they tried to use Mean Look, well, Isis's scarf wasn't just "choiced" because of fashion.

Someone hailed them at a table.

"Coffee?" It was a green eyed blond-haired woman at the table. Stacey. She was an intern studying to complete her Ph.D in Pokemon biology and anatomy.

_Yeah, _Isis confirmed. _You want?_

"Please."

_Drummer, could you-?_

Drummer waved the Alazakam away. Isis gratefully eased herself onto a chair in the caffeteria next to the woman while Drummer waited for the last dregs to fall in the container. he could already smell the sweet caffine rolling off the pot in flavorous steams. When Drummer came to the table with three cups, he heard Stacey say, "And they found all the Pidove eggs frozen to death."

_How horrible!_ Isis gasped telepathically.

"What happened?" Drummer asked. He passed each container to the workers before he tenderly blew his cup.

Stacey took a quick sip. "An old friend called. Told me some foreign trainer released an Arbok on Route 3 in the Unova Region," she replied promtly.

Drummer frowned. "Unova? Isn't that way out in the east past the big Ocean? With pokemon not even catalogued here?"

"Yup. Since Pidove have never seen an Arbok there before, that meant the Viper pokemon never had to worry about going hungry." Stacey shook her head sadly. "Most of the Pidove are considered endangered in Route 3 now."

_Because of one Arbok?_ Isis shook her head. _That can't be right. I've been to the Unova region. Pidove are common species._

"They were not all eaten," Stacey explained. She gulped the rest of her coffee and smacked her lips approvingly. "Most of the Pidove flew away to find safer places in other Routes. Those who had eggs stayed behind to take their chances, others too stubborn to leave. It's not a problem for them anymore though.

"The Arbok was taken away quickly and quietly by the Pokemon Rescue Team. They're going to send it to a Rescue team in Johto and release it there in the wild with the others."

_Others? _Iris brushed her mustache aside to take a sip. Like Drummer, she was too busy listening to realize her drink was cooling fast.

"It turns out this Arbok was female. Bred with a Leipard there."

Both Drummer and Isis blinked in surprise.

Drummer leaned forward. "What are they going to do with the eggs?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Wait until they hach," Stacy said. She twirled the empty cup between her hands. "They can't just send the eggs with the mother. Some of them might contain Purloins. After they're hatched and grown a bit, the baby Ekans will be sent to Johto with the mother, and the Purloin will be weaned before they're dropped off with the father. It should all work out."

Drummer began to nod. But one look at his watch halted his progress. "Break's over," he sighed.

They threw their plastic cups in the trash. Stacey lagged by the table. "How's your personal life, Isis?"

The Alakazam shrugged. _It's still a bit stressful that I have to pay to sleep on a bedIt felt a lot easier to sleep in a Pokeball._ Neither Drummer nor Stacey missed the tiny glance Isis made to the safe. She twirled one of her mustaches nervously._ It took up less space and I didn't have to worry about that bed that takes up more room._

"You'll get used to it," Stacey braced.

Isis nodded. _Life is so different from the casual life of a Pokemon,_ she thought quietly. Her eyes drifing to a flock of Tailow flying past the window.

"But it's more fulfilling, right?" Drummer asked. He hated to think that all this hard work was for nothing. It wasn't easy on their part either.

Isis's eyes strayed to the window. _It is a lot harder to continue my goal, _she admitted. She turned her green eyes to Stacey and Drummer. They were was a glimmer of satisfaction on the surface. _But it's worth it._

* * *

><p><strong>I made this fanfic based on the information I read about an alakazam, which an IQ of 5,000. That's just... wow. if Alakazam weren't labeled as pokemon, they could be the dominant species, if they wanted. They got the smarts, the power, and the abilities. They just don't feel like it.<strong>

**I wouldn't be surprised(but I'd find it funy) if we see an Alakazam in the future throwing a pokeball that contained a human, as their pokemon 8X**

**This fanfic may seem a bit misplaced, as it doesn't have a proper plot. I made it out of a vague idea I had, nothing more to consider more chapters or a consistent look at their lives. Maybe for another fanfic ^^**


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